• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Government Ethics>
  3. civic ed>

Roberts gets all sorts of blowback for labeling civic ed as democracy’s cure

Bill Theobald
January 03, 2020
Chief Justice John Roberts

Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to reference his upcoming role in President Trump's impeachment trial when he wrote: "We should reflect on our duty to judge without fear or favor, deciding each matter with humility, integrity and dispatch."

Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Normally, the annual report from the nation's chief justice doesn't receive much attention. But John Roberts' relatively short missive released on New Year's Day has set off, if not a firestorm, then at least a conflagration of response. And it's all over the map.

Roberts, who last year devoted his report to the treatment of law clerks, focused this year on the role the court plays in promoting civic education. He argues that "we have come to take democracy for granted, and civic education has fallen by the wayside."

To which many liberal commentators have shouted: "Hypocrite!" Others see a no-so-subtle brushback pitch aimed at President Trump.


"At first brush, the justice's warning about the fragility of our democracy appears to be in (brazen) tension with his habit of taking a sledgehammer to voter protections and constraints on corporate domination of American politics," Eric Levitz writes in New York magazine.

He points out that it was Roberts who authored two key Supreme Court rulings that advocates believe have contributed to the breakdown of democracy.

One, the Citizens United case, opened the door to unlimited independent spending by corporations on political ads and the other, the Shelby County case, essentially gutted the central provision of the Voting Rights Act.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

And Levitz accuses the chief justice of being an elitist with a disdain for regular folk.

Others saw the report as a shot across the bow of Trump, who has been harshly critical of the judiciary at times. And they found the timing especially significant given that the chief justice will soon be presiding over Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate.

Roberts himself seems to refer in the report to the dicey role he will soon play.

"We should reflect on our duty to judge without fear or favor, deciding each matter with humility, integrity and dispatch," he wrote.

Taken at face value, the report itself is a love letter to his colleagues in the court system, citing numerous examples of courts and individual judges who are promoting civic education.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, for example, recently opened its Justice for All Learning Center. And the National Center for State Courts has developed learning materials that include a graphic novel series on how the courts work.

He even cites, but does not name, the chief judge of the District of Columbia Circuit, who has over the past 20 years "quietly volunteered at a local elementary school, inspiring court colleagues to join in the effort."

Who is this generous judge? Merrick Garland, the person President Obama wanted to put on the Supreme Court in 2016 but was unilaterally blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

From Your Site Articles
  • Democrats, experts call on Supreme Court to let some sunshine in ... ›
  • High court to voters: You deal with partisan gerrymandering. - The ... ›
  • Why the Supreme Court asked for an explanation of the 2020 ... ›
  • Will Chief Justice Roberts act to save democracy? - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Impeachment Trial Looming, Chief Justice Reflects on Judicial ... ›
  • Chief Justice John Roberts warns about dangers of fake news ... ›
  • Chief Justice John Roberts says Americans may 'take democracy for ... ›
civic ed

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Confirm that you are not a bot.
×
Follow
Contributors

Why does a man wearing earrings drive Christians crazy?

Paul Swearengin

DeSantis' sitcom world

Lawrence Goldstone

Hypocrisy of pro-lifers being anti-LGBTQIA

Steve Corbin

A dangerous loss of trust

William Natbony

Shifting the narrative on homelessness in America

David L. Nevins

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane
latest News

Ask Joe: Two sides of a story

Joe Weston
02 June

Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Our Staff
01 June

Default? Financial crisis? Political theater?

David Butler
01 June

Three practical presidential pledges to promote national prosperity

James-Christian B. Blockwood
31 May

Meet the Faces of Democracy: Justin Roebuck

Mia Minkin
31 May

Podcast: Why Is Congressional Oversight Important, and How Can It Be Done Well? (with Elise Bean)

Kevin R. Kosar
Elise J. Bean
30 May
Videos

Video: Why music? Why now?

David L. Nevins

Video: Honoring Memorial Day

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirst Friday YOUnify & CPL

Our Staff

Video: What is the toll of racial violence on Black lives?

Our Staff

Video: What's next for migrants seeking asylum after Title 42

Our Staff

Video: An inside look at the campaign to repeal Pennsylvania’s closed primaries

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Our Staff
01 June

Podcast: AI revolution: Disaster or great leap forward?

Our Staff
25 May

Podcast: Can we fix America's financial crises?

Our Staff
23 May

Podcast: Gen Z's fight for democracy

Our Staff
22 May
Recommended
Why does a man wearing earrings drive Christians crazy?

Why does a man wearing earrings drive Christians crazy?

Diversity Inclusion and Belonging
DeSantis' sitcom world

DeSantis' sitcom world

Opinion
Ask Joe: Two sides of a story

Ask Joe: Two sides of a story

Pop Culture
Video: Why music? Why now?

Video: Why music? Why now?

Big Picture
Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Technology
Default? Financial crisis? Political theater?

Default? Financial crisis? Political theater?

Budgeting